Queen Victoria Building

The Queen Victoria Building fills an entire city block with its massive copper domes and Romanesque arches. George McRae designed the structure in the eighteen nineties, intended as a grand marketplace for the city. During the nineteen thirties, the building nearly faced demolition to make way for a civic plaza. Workers instead boarded up the intricate facades and converted the interior into cramped municipal offices. Today, the building serves as a retail center, housing its original grand central staircase and stained glass windows.